Monday, January 30, 2012

I have spent the last four days with Лука and DD1 and SIL and I might be leaving after today's Doctor's visit or maybe not. DD1 is wanting Лука's baby brother, out. He seems to be quite crowded in there and spent last night trying to push his way out thru her ribs. This week is 39 and he will be with us soon.

Лука hardly lets me out of his sight and I have to negotiate for a visit to the Loo or a cup of coffee. Last night I almost coughed myself silly making wild animal sounds outside his play tent, while he shrieked inside with laughter. I finally got him to calm down with a few episodes of Shaun the Sheep on Netflix. He is only allowed about an hour of TV a night, right after dinner, so it is actually a way to quiet him down before bedtime, unless it is Serbian music videos, then he is a dancing fool. He is very fond of music and I think he is very musically inclined. He is usually humming or singing all day long, when he isn't saying, "play cars with me, Grandma!" It is amazing when he speaks Serbian to his Ta Ta (dad) and switches to English easily, to talk to Grandma. Yesterday in the car on the way home from dinner out he said, "It was a wonderful day!" He made my day anyway!

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Mr BC, (otherwise to be know as My Sailor Boy) and I had married seven days before in California and spent the succeeding days driving to the Naval Air Station in Key West, FL. MSB was so proud that he had selected one of the better apartments in a town not known much for nice, affordable housing, in 1967. There was no Navy housing available and it wasn’t as nice as this apartment, as I was later to find out. He had looked at Conch Houses that had been partitioned into apartments, he said there wasn’t much that he would be willing to move me into. So this was it. I was disappointed but I tried not let him know at the time. It was our first home together. It was furnished, with a green sectional couch, a kitchen table, a double bed and chest of drawers, and it was tiny. We were going to be there a year.

It was 2 story apartments built of concrete blocks painted yellow, which we would be happy about in the first hurricane to come through. We had a salamander in the kitchen cupboard and one who lived in a crack in the bathroom wall, that would slink back and forth and most likely more in the walls. At my introductory scream at the one in the shower, MSB told me they were good as they ate the cockroaches and other bugs that lived with us. I have to admit, I did not see many bugs inside as there were outside, so I learned to love the salamanders. Key West was an interesting spot to begin a marriage and as it was his last enlistment we made do. Key West in 1967 was not the tourist spot it is now, and we do plan to go back someday. I have to admit now that first place was ok for the money and the area, but after Key West I had a lot more imput in house hunting.

This would be an example of a Conch House in 1967, that is rust on the roof.

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Today I am leaving beautiful Santa Barbara for more southern climes in San Bernardino. Back to work, I have to get the house ready to sell. I love Лука so much, and will miss him but I plan to come up about once a week until the baby comes, then will be up here probably until Mr Bankerchick comes in Feb to help again if needed.

Лука and I have had such fun. He is a happy boy with a great sense of humor and imagination. I spend so much time with him that he thinks I am his alone. It should be interesting when I leave if he will let me go,but I must and it will be good for him to play with others. He is sad for a moment then he will be off to other things.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

I didn't think I would post today as Лука came home yesterday and I'm busy playing. but as I was reading MamaKat challenges I realized I could whip one out fast during his nap so here it is:

10 Things I Love About (Grand) Motherhood

1. That I am not going to sit on a bench when we go to the park.
2. I get to play with trains.
3. To Лука, I am the funniest person in the World.
4. He runs to me when he first sees me, Grandmaaaaaa!
5. When one builds a tower it goes without saying to admire it quickly as it is bound to be knocked
down, almost immediately.
5. I love the pillow fights, and his laugh when I pin him down.
6. I love to hear about things he does that make me proud. Like please and thank you without being
reminded and excuse me. Everyone in Serbia was amazed that he remembered to say it in
Serbian to them. HE IS POLITE IN TWO LANGUAGES.
7. He says I LOVE YOU GRANDMA AND GRANDPA, when he says goodbye.
8. He says no firmly but says Umm Yeah, when he says yes. He gets that from his mommy.
9. That Лука is a boy, I had 2 daughters and have learned to appreciate how wonderful boys are too.
10.Whether they are full body arm wrappers or he just backs into them, SNUGGLES are the
best....when Лука is passing them out.

The Prompts:
1.) Write a poem inspired by the last conversation you had with your child.
2.) Describe a time you felt startled.
3.) Create an “instructional” post where you show readers how to do something cool or useful or yummy. (inspired by two very cute little girls)
4.) Many of us like to poke fun at some of the things that drive us crazy as parents…let’s flip the script, what are 10 things you love about motherhood?
5.) Share a lessons (or lessons) you learned about friendship from an introvert. (inspired by (in) courage)

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

I knew what I wanted.What was my dad’s like as a boy?I was unfulfilled as he passed away before I
could question him completely. What I
knew of him was as a father. I knew that he was accomplished, he went to
college at Stillwater, Oklahoma, joined the Marines after college, during WWII.
He went to law school on the GI Bill, after he married my mom and raised my
little brother and me.

Dad didn’t talk much and when he did he
spoke slowly, thinking, on each word, that was a boring to a young kid, so what
I have learned about him, his family, my mom, even my husband, who often comes up
with information he gleaned from being around him. Now that we have moved to
Missouri, I want to hook up more often with my cousins who I have reached out
to this Christmas and go to the family reunions, which seem to be less often.

What I know is he must have been a bit of a
rascal.He didn’t like peas as an adult,
because as a kid he ate raw peas until he made himself sick. He was a good looking
boy, from the pictures I have seen and he had a girlfriend named Lydia.He often harassed mom with the song Lydia, the Tattooed Lady. He went to college because he didn’t want
to be a farmer. To hear him tell it, to us kids, his youth was not misspent and
he was a perfect child. As I grew older I did discover that he would run liquor
from Arkansas, back to Stillwater with a frat buddy who had a car. I also
learned by asking about a scar on his head, he was kicked out of Marine OCS
because of a fight (the guy hit him over the head with a bottle).Mom always counted it as a blessing as most
young men just out of OCs were killed in the Pacific, almost upon arrival. He
spent the war in New Found land ferrying Germans to POW camps in Texas.

So I guess I was not so unfulfilled, but I
wish there were more stories told before he died. Mom is gone since 2002, and she shared what
she knew, when I asked.....If only I had asked more.

Dad grew up in Homestead,OK,, stayed in CA after WWII

I had to go to Internet for pictures. Project for 2012 get my family pictures scanned

Friday, January 06, 2012

Charlotte was wandering through the church
yard cemetery toward the bench where she often enjoyed sketching the church
and parish school where her husband, Edward was vicar.Edward had mentioned yesterday at tea about an
unusual epitaph, so now she zig-zagged through the stones and monuments looking
for the grave stone.She soon found it
in the older section of the cemetery, where stones had been up turned, lopsided
and weathered.The dates around it were
of the last century. No name was carved on
the stone, only a verse:

Here lies a miser who lived for
himself, who caredfor nothing but gathering wealth.

Now where he is and how
he fares;nobody knows and nobody cares

“How wry and pitiable to be known; only as a
miserly man. “ She thought aloud. There
was a pretty aspect of the parsonage in the distance, so she set about sketching
it quickly.She wanted to get back to the
parsonage and show it to Edward, before tea time.

Charlotte and Edward had been married just a
short six months. She had met him ten years ago when he first arrived in the
village of Newburn as Deacon of the parish. She was
but a child of twelve.With her parents long
dead, she and her brother John resided with their spinster aunt, in a small
cottage at the edge of Newburn Hall.With her tiny income, Aunt Jane was able to teach them to read and enjoy books from the circulating library. She
encouraged Charlotte’s drawing and sent John to the Parish Day School
for several years. That was where they
made the acquaintance of the young deacon, Edward Stephenson.

Aunt Jane would often tell them
reminiscences of her youth when she and their mother were young ladies of
wealth and standing in the neighbourhood, but nothing was said of how they
became so impoverished.However, she was
silent on the circumstances of their parent’s marriage and death. One of the stories that neighbours told, was
that Aunt Jane and their mother had been at the mercy of a miserly relative
who did nothing to put them forward in society, leaving them nothing but the
cottage and a tiny inheritance.

As the years passed, her brother eventually
went to work clerking for the Newburn Railway. This supplemented
the small income of their aunt and by living carefully, they enjoyed a
satisfactory life with a small circle of friends. With no dowry, she had little
expectations of making a good marriage. So
everyone was surprised when, after receiving a church living of his own, Edward
proposed.

Charlotte now securely ensconced in the
parsonage of Holy Saviour Church, Lemmington, seemed unconcerned by the
circumstances of her former life. She opened her book to look again at the sketch before showing
Edward her drawing. She observed the gravestone in the forground, thinking it ruined the sketch of her lovely home and began to fill it in with flowers and grasses. 'That is much better," she thought.

For this week, write a fiction or creative non-fiction piece in which an epitaph features prominently. I found mine at The Epitaph Browser. It is from Lemmington, England. found under Anonymous. I found a Lemington in Northumbria near Newcastle and an appropriate parish in which I set my story.

Wednesday, January 04, 2012

I chose MamaKat's prompt: Your life is being turned into a movie…who will play your cast of characters?

Of course my life is so exciting that Hollywood is bound to come knocking for the rights to my story. All of the big names would be lining up for the various rolls, however, I would insist on having final say on casting this extravaganza!

Starting with my parents since they had such an influence on who I turned out to be, I would want Wilford Brimley and Betty White. Dad might have actually out curmudgened Brimley and they both were bald and had a droopy mustache. Mom reminds me a little of the Rose character Betty White played, not the maneater roles.

My brother would be played by Tom Selleck, we have always said he reminds us of Tom, from the smile to the mustache. But not the hair. Maybe Tom would look good with a shaved head? That smile in the picture...that is my brother's smile.

Now Mr BC would have Laura Linney play DD1 because she reminds him of DD1 Since I am picking someone to play her, it would be Reese Witherspoon, based her blue eyes, girl next door looks and on her body of work, although DD1 is a more convincing lawyer.

Zooey Deschanel would play DD2. She is quirky, funny and a little exotic, just like DD2. In her new role, she is offbeat and she can sing just like DD2

Now for the male lead in my life I am going to have to go with Dustin Hoffman. put a pair of glasses on him for just the right touch. He displays just the right amount of humor, and vulnerability and he is cute just like Mr BC.

And the star of my life would have to be Kathy Bates. She could play me at any age. She is such a great actress, funny, wry, an everywoman in charge of her own life. I love her in everything she does, except Misery, She scared me in Misery.
There you have it the cast of a Blockbuster!

Tuesday, January 03, 2012

I am in Santa Barbara, enjoying a break from winter in MO. DD1 and I spent a quiet New Year's Eve having dinner together at a small Japanese restaraunt. We are going to get ready for the baby this week, she has about 5 weeks to go.

SIL and Лука will be back from Serbia on the 11th, They Skype Mama every day and Лука is handling the time change ok, he just goes to bed at midnight their time. It is interesting how he handles being away. Sometimes he will just walk through the picture and say "Hi, Mom." other times he wants to say good night and look at his toys that are here, and DD1 will pick up his little cars one by one and talk about them.

I know his concept of time and space must be so different from ours and we worry a little, that maybe he is having a hard time with "you will be coming home soon or the concept of, now, 8 days. He also will say "give it to me" when she holds up a favorite car. Orthodox Christmas is this coming weekend, then it will be just a few more days before he is back. It is way too quiet around here.